The intriguing enhancement of chloroperoxidase mediated one-electron oxidations by azide, a known active-site ligand.

Azide is a well-known inhibitor of heme-enzymes. Herein, we report the counter-intuitive observation that at some concentration regimes, incorporation of azide in the reaction medium enhances chloroperoxidase (CPO, a heme-enzyme) mediated one-electron abstractions from several substrates. A diffusible azidyl radical based mechanism is proposed for explaining the phenomenon. Further, it is projected that the finding could have significant impact on routine in situ or in vitro biochemistry studies involving heme-enzyme systems and azide.

Heme destruction, the main molecular event during the peroxide-mediated inactivation of chloroperoxidase from Caldariomyces fumago.

Heme peroxidases are subject to a mechanism-based oxidative inactivation. During the catalytic cycle, the heme group is activated to form highly oxidizing species, which may extract electrons from the protein itself. In this work, we analyze changes in residues prone to oxidation owing to their low redox potential during the peroxide-mediated inactivation of chloroperoxidase from Caldariomyces fumago under peroxidasic catalytic conditions. Surprisingly, we found only minor changes in the amino acid content of the fully inactivated enzyme. Our results show that tyrosine residues are not oxidized, whereas all tryptophan residues are partially oxidized in the inactive protein. The data suggest that the main process leading to enzyme inactivation is heme destruction. The molecular characterization of the peroxide-mediated inactivation process could provide specific targets for the protein engineering of this versatile peroxidase.

Deactivation mechanisms of chloroperoxidase during biotransformations.

Inactivation mechanisms of chloroperoxidase (CPO) from Caldariomyces fumago have been investigated with the aim of improving the practical utility of CPO for hydrocarbon oxidation. Deactivation studies in the presence of oxidants (i.e., hydrogen peroxide and t-butyl hydroperoxide) indicated that CPO lost oxidation activity toward hydrocarbon substrates during dismutation of hydrogen peroxide. The loss of enzyme activity was accompanied by the apparent destruction of the heme rather than aggregation or denaturation of the apo-protein. The decrease of enzyme activity was significantly retarded by adding the radical scavenger t-butyl alcohol at pH 4.1, or by optimizing the reaction pH. CPO retained greatest oxidation activity at pH 5-6, which may produce a more favorable ionization state of the key amino acid (Glu-183) and thus reduce radical formation. As a result of higher activity at pH 5-6, the total turnover numbers (TTN, defined as the amount of product produced over the catalytic lifetime of the enzyme) for the oxidation of toluene and o-, m-, p-xylenes in substrate/aqueous emulsion systems ranged from ca. 10% to 110% higher at pH 5.5 (20,000 to 45,000 mol product/mol enzyme) compared to pH 4.1. Furthermore, TTNs of CPO increased with increasing turnover frequencies, indicating that higher activity toward reducing substrates reduces radical formation and stabilizes CPO toward inactivation by H(2)O(2). These findings demonstrate the important relationship between CPO stability and activity, and illustrate that large improvements in CPO activity and stability can be achieved through solvent engineering.

Inhibition of vanadium chloroperoxidase from the fungus Curvularia inaequalis by hydroxylamine, hydrazine and azide and inactivation by phosphate.

The first detailed inhibition study of recombinant vanadium chloroperoxidase (rVCPO) using hydroxylamine, hydrazine and azide has been carried out. Hydroxylamine inhibits rVCPO both competitively and uncompetitively. The competitive inhibition constant K(ic) and the uncompetitive inhibition constant K(iu) see are 40 and 80 microM, respectively. The kinetic data suggest that rVCPO may form a hydroxylamido complex, hydroxylamine also seems to react with the peroxovanadate complex during turnover. The kinetic data show that the type of inhibition for hydrazine and azide is uncompetitive with the uncompetitive inhibition constant K(iu) of 350 microM and 50 nM, respectively, showing that in particular azide is a very potent inhibitor of this enzyme. Substitution of vanadate in the active site by phosphate also leads to inactivation of vanadium chloroperoxidase. However, the presence of H(2)O(2) clearly prevents the inactivation of the enzyme by phosphate. This shows that pervanadate is bound much more strongly to the enzyme than vanadate.

Mössbauer and electron paramagnetic resonance studies of chloroperoxidase following mechanism-based inactivation with allylbenzene.

We have used Mössbauer and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy to study a heme-N-alkylated derivative of chloroperoxidase (CPO) prepared by mechanism-based inactivation with allylbenzene and hydrogen peroxide. The freshly prepared inactivated enzyme ("green CPO") displayed a nearly pure low-spin ferric EPR signal with g = 1.94, 2.15, 2.31. The Mössbauer spectrum of the same species recorded at 4.2 K showed magnetic hyperfine splittings, which could be simulated in terms of a spin Hamiltonian with a complete set of hyperfine parameters in the slow spin fluctuation limit. The EPR spectrum of green CPO was simulated using a three-term crystal field model including g-strain. The best-fit parameters implied a very strong octahedral field in which the three 2T2 levels of the (3d)5 configuration in green CPO were lowest in energy, followed by a quartet. In native CPO, the 6A1 states follow the 2T2 ground state doublet. The alkene-mediated inactivation of CPO is spontaneously reversible. Warming of a sample of green CPO to 22 degrees C for increasing times before freezing revealed slow conversion of the novel EPR species to two further spin S = 1/2 ferric species. One of these species displayed g = 1.82, 2.25, 2.60 indistinguishable from native CPO. By subtracting spectral components due to native and green CPO, a third species with g = 1.86, 2.24, 2.50 could be generated. The EPR spectrum of this "quasi-native CPO," which appears at intermediate times during the reactivation, was simulated using best-fit parameters similar to those used for native CPO.

A catalytic triad is required by the non-heme haloperoxidases to perform halogenation.

The bacterial non-heme haloperoxidases are highly related to an esterase from Pseudomonas fluorescens, at structural and functional levels. Both types of enzymes displayed brominating activity and esterase activity. The presence of the serine-hydrolase motif Gly-X-Ser-X-Gly, in the esterase as well as in all aligned haloperoxidase sequences, strongly suggested that they belong to the serine-hydrolase family. Sequence alignment with several serine-hydrolases and secondary structure superimposition revealed the striking conservation of structural features characterising the alpha/beta-hydrolase fold structure in all haloperoxidases. These structural predictions allowed us to identify a potential catalytic triad in haloperoxidases, perfectly matching the triad of all aligned serine-hydrolases. The structurally equivalent triad in the chloroperoxidase CPO-P comprised the amino acids Serine 97, Aspartic acid 229 and Histidine 258. The involvement of this catalytic triad in halogenation was further assessed by inhibition studies and site-directed mutagenesis. Inactivation of CPO-P by PMSF and DEPC strongly suggested that the serine residue from the serine-hydrolase motif and an histidine residue are essential for halogenation, similar to that demonstrated for typical serine-hydrolases. By site-directed mutagenesis of CPO-P, Ser-97 was exchanged against alanine or cysteine, Asp-229 against alanine and His-258 against glutamine. Western blot analysis indicated that each mutant gene was efficiently expressed. Whereas the mutant S97C conserved a very low residual activity, each other mutant S97A, D229A or H258Q was totally inactive. This study gives the direct demonstration of the requirement of a catalytic triad in the halogenation mechanism.

Topology of the chloroperoxidase active site: regiospecificity of heme modification by phenylhydrazine and sodium azide.

Chloroperoxidase (CLP) from Caldariomyces fumago is rapidly and irreversibly inactivated by phenylhydrazine and H2O2 but not by H2O2 alone. Inactivation is characterized by a phenylhydrazine-to-CLP partition ratio of approximately 15, formation of trans-azobenzene, and formation of a sigma-bonded phenyl-iron heme complex with a characteristic absorption maximum of 472 nm. Anaerobic extraction of the heme complex from the protein, followed by exposure to dioxygen under acidic conditions, shifts the phenyl group from the iron to the porphyrin nitrogens and yields the four possible N-phenylprotoporphyrin IX regioisomers. Oxidation of the iron-phenyl complex within the intact protein by ferricyanide or high peroxide concentrations results in protein-directed phenyl migration to give exclusively the N-phenylprotoporphyrin IX regioisomers with the phenyl group on pyrrole rings A and C. CLP also catalyzes the H2O2-dependent oxidation of azide to the azidyl radical and is inactivated by azide in the presence of H2O2. Inactivation of CLP by azide and H2O2 results in loss of heme Soret absorbance and formation of delta-meso-azidoheme. These results suggest a topological model for the CLP active site and indicate that the tertiary structure of the enzyme permits substrates to interact with both the delta-meso heme edge and catalytic ferryl (FeIV = O) species, in agreement with the fact that CLP catalyzes both H2O2-dependent peroxidation and monooxygenation reactions.

Chemical modification of chloroperoxidase with diethylpyrocarbonate. Evidence for the presence of an essential histidine residue.

Chloroperoxidase from Caldariomyces fumago is well documented as an extremely versatile catalyst, and studies are currently being conducted to delineate the fine structural features that allow the enzyme to possess chemical and physical similarities to the peroxidases, catalases, and P-450 cytochromes. Earlier investigations of ligand binding to the heme iron of chloroperoxidase, along with the presence of an invariant distal histidine residue in the active site of peroxidases and catalases, have led to the hypothesis that chloroperoxidase also possesses an essential histidine residue that may participate in catalysis. To address this in a more direct fashion, chemical modification studies were initiated with diethylpyrocarbonate. Incubation of chloroperoxidase with this reagent resulted in a time-dependent inactivation of enzyme. Kinetic analysis revealed that the inactivation was due to a simple bimolecular reaction. The rate of inactivation exhibited a pH dependence, indicating that modification of a titratable residue with a pKa value of 6.91 was responsible for inactivation; this data provided strong evidence for histidine derivatization by diethylpyrocarbonate. To further support these results, inactivation due to cysteine, tyrosine, or lysine modification was ruled out. The stoichiometry of histidine modification was estimated by the increase in absorption at 246 nm, and it was found that more than 1 histidine residue was derivatized when chloroperoxidase was inactivated with diethylpyrocarbonate. However, it was shown that the rates of modification and inactivation were not equivalent. This was interpreted to reflect that both essential and nonessential histidine residues were modified by diethylpyrocarbonate. Kinetic analysis indicated that modification of a single essential histidine residue was responsible for inactivation of the enzyme. Studies with [14C]diethylpyrocarbonate provided stoichiometric support that derivatization of a single histidine inactivated chloroperoxidase. Based on sequence homology with cytochrome c peroxidase, histidine 38 was identified as a likely candidate for the distal residue. Molecular modeling, based on secondary structure predictions, allows for the construction of an active site peptide, and implicates a number of other residues that may participate in catalysis.

EDTA inhibits peroxidase-catalyzed iodide oxidation through interaction at the iodide binding site.

EDTA inhibits the formation of I3- from iodide catalysed by various pure peroxidases. The inhibition is concentration-dependent and chloroperoxidase (CPO) is more sensitive than horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and lactoperoxidase (LPO). EDTA is more active than EGTA or other biological chelators tested. Zn2+, Mn2+ and Co2+ are equally active in reversing the effect of EDTA on both CPO and HRP almost completely, but ineffective in the case of LPO. The effect of EDTA on HRP can be reversed by a higher concentration of iodide but not by H2O2. EDTA causes a hypsochromic change in the absorption of the Soret band of HRP at 402 nm, and iodide can reverse this effect. EDTA can effectively displace radioiodide specifically bound to HRP. It is suggested that EDTA inhibits iodide oxidation by interacting at the iodide binding site of the HRP.

Purification and characterization of a novel bacterial non-heme chloroperoxidase from Pseudomonas pyrrocinia.

The first bacterial chloroperoxidase that is capable of catalyzing the chlorination of indole to 7-chloroindole was detected in Pseudomonas pyrrocinia ATCC 15958, a bacterium that produces the antifungal antibiotic pyrrolnitrin (Wiesner, W., van Pée, K.H., and Lingens, F. (1986) FEBS Lett. 209, 321-324). Here we describe the purification and characterization of this bacterial non-heme chloroperoxidase. The enzyme was purified by DEAE-cellulose chromatography at different pH values, molecular sieve chromatography, and Bio-Gel HTP hydroxylapatite. After the last purification step, chloroperoxidase was homogeneous by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and ultracentrifugation. Based on gel filtration and ultracentrifugation results, the molecular weight of the enzyme was 64,000 +/- 3,000. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed a single band with the mobility of a 32,000 molecular weight species. Therefore, in solution at neutral pH, this chloroperoxidase is a dimer. The enzyme did not exhibit any absorbance in the visible region of the spectrum. The isoelectric point was 4.1. Chloroperoxidase was specific for I-, Br-, and Cl- and was not inhibited by azide, but was inhibited by cyanide and F-. This procaryotic chloroperoxidase catalyzed the bromination of monochlorodimedone but not its chlorination and has no peroxidase or catalase activity. The pH optimum of the enzyme was between 4.0 and 4.5, and the enzyme was stable between pH 3.5 and 8.5 and showed no loss of activity when incubated at 60 degrees C for 2 h. Chloroperoxidase also chlorinated 4-(2-amino-3-chlorophenyl) pyrrole to yield aminopyrrolnitrin, the immediate precursor of pyrrolnitrin. This suggests very strongly that chloroperoxidase is involved in the biosynthesis of the antibiotic pyrrolnitrin.

pH kinetic studies of the N-demethylation of N,N-dimethylaniline catalyzed by chloroperoxidase.

The effect of pH on the kinetic parameters for the chloroperoxidase-catalyzed N-demethylation of N,N-dimethylaniline supported by ethyl hydroperoxide was investigated from pH 3.0 to 7.0. Chloroperoxidase was found to be stable throughout the pH range studied. Initial rate conditions were determined throughout the pH range. The Vmax for the demethylation reaction exhibited a pH optimum at approximately 4.5. The Km for N,N-dimethylaniline increased with decreasing pH, while the Km for ethyl hydroperoxide varied in a manner paralleling Vmax. Comparison of the Vmax/Km values for N,N-dimethylaniline and ethyl hydroperoxide indicated that the interaction of N,N-dimethylaniline with chloroperoxidase compound I was rate-limiting below pH 4.5, while compound I formation was rate-limiting above pH 4.5. The log of the Vmax/Km for ethyl hydroperoxide was independent of pH, indicating that chloroperoxidase compound I formation is not affected by ionizations in this pH range. The plot of the log of the Vmax/Km for N,N-dimethylaniline versus pH indicated an ionization on compound I with a pK of approximately 6.8. The plot of the log of the Vmax versus pH indicated an ionization on the compound I-N,N-dimethylaniline complex, with a pK of approximately 3.1. The results show that chloroperoxidase can demethylate both the protonated and neutral forms of N,N-dimethylaniline (pK approximately 5.0), suggesting that hydrophobic binding of the arylamine substrate is more important in catalysis than ionic bonding of the amine moiety. For optimal catalysis, a residue in the chloroperoxidase compound I-N,N-dimethylaniline complex with a pK of approximately 3.1 must be deprotonated, while a residue in compound I with a pK of approximately 6.8 must be protonated.

Peroxide oxidation of indole to oxindole by chloroperoxidase catalysis.

In the presence of chloroperoxidase, indole was oxidized by H2O2 to give oxindole as the major product. Under most conditions oxindole was the only product formed, and under optimal conditions the conversion was quantitative. This reaction displayed maximal activity at pH 4.6, although appreciable activity was observed throughout the entire pH range investigated, namely pH 2.5-6.0. Enzyme saturation by indole could not be demonstrated, up to the limit of indole solubility in the buffer. The oxidation kinetics were first-order with respect to indole up to 8 mM, which was the highest concentration of indole that could be investigated. On the other hand, 2-methylindole was not affected by H2O2 and chloroperoxidase, but was a strong inhibitor of indole oxidation. The isomer 1-methylindole was a poor substrate for chloroperoxidase oxidation, and a weak inhibitor of indole oxidation. These results suggest the possibility that chloroperoxidase oxidation of the carbon atom adjacent to the nitrogen atom in part results from hydrogen-bonding of the substrate N-H group to the enzyme active site.